When I started work, someone had to show me how to use the fax machine. Today, many offices don’t even have one. Workplace technology moves on and you should, too. Here are five trends that warrant a watching brief for those interested in how technology and project management interrelate.

1. Predictive Analytics
Data is a differentiator. Companies that can capture what customers buy, like and use can interrogate that data to provide insights that help them stay ahead of the curve. “Big data” is the term given to the storage and analysis of workplace data for the purpose of creating meaningful management information.

Once you’ve got the data, you can do some pretty cool things with it, which is where predictive analytics comes in. The data from collaboration and project management tools is a subset of all this data. Real-time project analytics can add huge value to streamlining project management processes and in identifying early warning signs for projects.

Just think: being able to parse a discussion thread from your collaboration tool and single out potential risks and issues could change the role of the project manager in the future. Furthermore, natural language searches will make it easier to include narrative discussions, meeting minutes and more in the data analysis, saving hours of time when investigating or predicting problems.